Updates:

Honey believed that last line, I am not sure if that says more about his faith in my honesty or the appetite of his cats. Should have eaten his share… he said that he “prefers my goats milk custard”.

So the almond “meal” left over did go very nicely into a very quick cake I added some GF flour, sugar, egg and popped it in the microwave. It was nice but obviously if I had the time to bake it in the oven it would have been even better. I would extrapolate that from this you could substitute the wet meal for the regular dry meal. It can be a hassle if the measure in the recipe is given in grams and maybe back off the liquid slightly.

 

The Jala organic yogurt worked for making yogurt it was not as sour as the Coles brand yogurt which was very tough on the tastebuds. However it was nice in a vegetarian stroganoff and in oj-yogurt shakes.

 

I finally tested the goat’s milk yogurt made with probiotics I ordered from http://www.greenlivingaustralia.com.au it was by far the best yogurt made with goat’s milk. It was smooth, creamy and did not have that “goaty” aftertaste. Hence I have kept quite a few scoops of yogurt from that batch to make some more “one-day”. I discovered that mixing honey through the Greek yogurt is delicious. With this lot, I should have strained it for a little longer as it tends to go runny when you do this.

 

In the meantime I will be reverting back to cow’s milk for my yogurt needs. Till the kids arrive cow’s milk is more viable for my wallet.

Oh btw did anyone else notice that the Kogan is on sale this week for $200?

http://www.kogan.com/au/buy/thermoblend-all-one-food-processor-cooker/?gclid=CNu16I-D77cCFaRKpgodiQ8A2Q I have not met one in person, but if you are looking to save money, eat healthy and have “champagne taste on a lemonade wage “as my old co-worker used to say… this may be a good time to try a knock-off.

 

Judie 

Almond Milk Custard

Day 2, most of the water had drained down and when stirred looked like milk with a brownish tinge. I gave the bag full of the crushed almond mixture a squeeze; it would have been easier with something larger than a chux as bits of the paste like substance kept popping out into the almond milk. I had to rescue the blobs with a spoon. I’m not sure I will go to the bother of drying the paste to make almond-meal I will see if it works wet in something tomorrow. It seems like a bit of a waste of electricity to dry it in the oven.

With the problems I had yesterday I ended up with 400 mL of almond milk. With most of the almond meal strained out, the milk was much smoother and made a much better custard. I used a half recipe of custard and put the rest of the milk into some tiny plastic containers. Carrying them past teenagers to my friend, I was asked if I had shots in there… Ms T was very happy to receive her little treats and told me of this coconut ice cream that she had tried at the health food shop. I listened politely but really was not convinced (after all soy was not that great)… but I tried some and was surprised. Now I am busy looking for Coconut ice cream recipes on the internet and plan to shake the dust off my ice cream maker (actually it has never been out of its box)…

Honey if you are reading this and wondering where is your sample… unfortunately your favourite cat was hungry… I couldn't stop him in time. So sorry.

Judie

Almond Milk

Today I tried making my own almond milk, intending to see whether Honey who cannot do much cow’s milk liked almond milk and if my friend who can do almonds but found she could not do the bought stuff could tolerate it made fresh in the Thermomix.

 

I used Matt Stone’s recipe http://www.thermomix.com.au/what-is-thermomix/videos.aspx I tasted some, it was a bit grittier than I remembered almond milk being and had already decided to make custard from it not rice pudding… I checked the website

 

500g milk, 2 eggs, 30g wheat free cornflour, 50g brown sugar (website says 100g, I like to halve it) 90c speed 4, 7 minutes… delicious!

 

The food was in Thermie cooking when I realised I had not strained out the almond meal. Honey… if you are reading this- the pictures are just for show, you won’t find the green mug full of custard, I tossed it… now skip to next paragraph (I tossed it down my hatch).

 

The rest of the almond milk is draining in the fridge… I’m too lazy to stand there squeezing it all out when gravity will do a better job if I can wait a while. I am interested in seeing what I can do with the left-over almond meal.

 

Judie 

More Yogurt

So I guess you have been wondering how the yogurt turned out?

 

We borrowed an esky and it made yogurt making much more convenient. I could put the ingredients into the Thermomix and snuggle up with a book then pop the yogurt mix into the thermo-server wrapped in towels and popped into the esky… toddle off to bed and there would be yogurt waiting for me the next morning. I would then chill and strain it and use the Greek yogurt for many things.

 

Bornhoffen is the next yogurt we tried. It has made a sourer yogurt that is very light on the “goaty” taste. It tastes goaty in your mouth but not when you have swallowed the food. It goes well in OJ shakes too, no “goaty “  flavour at all. Last night I used the Greek yogurt made on goat’s milk as a substitute for sour cream in beef stroganoff; it was once again delicious, and worked well as a substitute.

 

Honey liked 2^nd goats yogurt with almonds and honey, we will try it with the 3^rd this week. I think there will be a better contrast between the sharp flavour of the 3^rd goat’s yogurt and the sweet honey.

I strained the remaining Bornhoffen yogurt, intending to make it “Greek Style” yogurt, but left it straining in the fridge for too long, hence when I remembered it at the end of the next day I had yogurt-cheese. So it did not get wasted, I decided to test the theory that it could replace Philly cheese in dips. It worked so Honey took some to work today to share with his friends and I am taking some to work tomorrow for our staff meeting. 1 kg with about a cup set aside for starting yogurt (I froze a couple of ¼ cups) made just over 400g of yogurt cheese and a glass of whey.

 

Having whey in the bread dough instead of water meant that I needed to make sure I put the cuts in the top of the loaves before cooking. It stopped them from cracking too much. Still made great pizza and even the cracked bread was still delicious. The slices on the top of the mini loaf helped me to slice the bread more thinly this time round.

 

The dog loved the goats whey, there was one site saying it was good for all animals then after I gave him some and he gobbeled it down, I read another site saying not to give it to dogs, give it to your cats. The cats were not interested at first; I placed it beside their dry food. Then Honey’s flatmate cleaned their bowl… I’m not sure he realised it was “precious”. We have not tested it on plants yet, as Honey uses an aquaponics system to grow things.

 

We love yogurt-cheese as a substitute for butter, so I sliced and froze a lot of our butter to keep it from going off. Someday soon, however I am keen to try making my own butter and buttermilk from organic cream. Apparently you can save money if you can get it in the 2L bottles compared to buying a small block of organic butter from the supermarket.

 

I have some of yogurt 4 going in the Thermomix as we speak. This time I am using Coles brand natural yogurt. It was the 3^rd most expensive to buy outright on the day I purchased starter yogurts. The yogurt is creamy in texture, thick, at least as sour as the Pauls yogurt and slightly powdery.